Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today on the bright Side, the
Speaker 1: incredible Tica Sumpter is here. You know her from Sonic
Speaker 1: the Hedgehog, The Haves and the have Nots, and the
Speaker 1: Ride Along Franchise, And today she's sharing how she's reimagining
Speaker 1: children's entertainment plus the key to getting kids to open
Speaker 1: up and reveal their true emotions.
Speaker 2: It's Monday, February seventeenth. I'm Danielle Robe and.
Speaker 1: I'm Simone Boyce and this is the bright Side from
Speaker 1: Hella Sunshine.
Speaker 3: Danielle. It's time for another on my Mind Monday. Yes
Speaker 3: it is. We love this time a week. Yes we
Speaker 3: do well.
Speaker 1: Before I share what's on my mind, I'm actually going
Speaker 1: to take a look back over the last month and
Speaker 1: when I think about the days, the moments, the scenes
Speaker 1: that really stand out in my mind. The highlights have
Speaker 1: been these top tier YAP sessions with my girlfriends. Whether
Speaker 1: it's watching Sex and the City with hyaluronic masks on
Speaker 1: in our hotel room or just sitting around on the
Speaker 1: floor in our pj's with the charcuterie board, it just
Speaker 1: really fills my cup.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, there's nothing better. I know.
Speaker 1: I love a low key app session. Like there's something
Speaker 1: that is so comforting about being able to show up,
Speaker 1: like no makeup on, bear faced hair, not done, sweats on.
Speaker 3: It's just so liberating.
Speaker 2: So my girlfriend's from college and I actually have a rule.
Speaker 2: We get together at least once a month for dinner
Speaker 2: at my friend Chloe's apartment, and pajamas are mandated. We
Speaker 2: only order food in so that there's no work for anybody,
Speaker 2: and everyone has their hair in a bun and is
Speaker 2: just like ready to talk and laugh or cry and
Speaker 2: do absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1: It's the best. It doesn't get any better than that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So now they're on the same page. I was delighted
Speaker 1: to read this really sweet article in Self magazine that's
Speaker 1: actually all about the mental health benefits that we get
Speaker 1: from yapping with our besties.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, tell me, I feel them. But I
Speaker 3: want to know what the science says.
Speaker 1: Well, it turns out science actually has our back on this, Danielle,
Speaker 1: because this article cided a twenty twenty three study that
Speaker 1: found that the social and direct actions you have with
Speaker 1: your friends can improve feelings of connection and well being.
Speaker 1: Now that might not be surprising to a lot of us, right,
Speaker 1: but what I found particularly interesting is that it turns
Speaker 1: out the content of the conversation doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: It's the conversation itself.
Speaker 2: So what you're saying is we don't have to have
Speaker 2: our brain waves sync up and have this really deep
Speaker 2: and meaningful moment. We can just be like giggling and
Speaker 2: laughing and talking about nothing.
Speaker 3: Right right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you well enough at this point
Speaker 1: to know that you and I are the type of
Speaker 1: people to think that, you know, a really deep and
Speaker 1: meaningful conversation with our friends is what's going to build
Speaker 1: a more profound connection. But what this research reveals is
Speaker 1: that mundane chitchat can be just as powerful.
Speaker 2: So I actually have this theory about small talk because
Speaker 2: a lot of people despise small talk aka talking about nothing,
Speaker 2: But I think that small talk leads to big talk.
Speaker 2: And so in a weird way, you're kind of signaling
Speaker 2: to your friends or to strangers that you're with that
Speaker 2: you're present, you're available for conversation. I think it reduces
Speaker 2: social pressure and you're just you're there to have fun
Speaker 2: and hang out. It's like a sign, hey, I'm here
Speaker 2: and I'm ready for this non forced intimacy.
Speaker 1: I think that's a really a stude observation, Danielle. I
Speaker 1: think sometimes starting with that mundane chit chat can kind
Speaker 1: of take off this pressure valve, and it allows this
Speaker 1: release for the profound conversation to come out. Like I
Speaker 1: think about some of the biggest, you know, mental breakthroughs
Speaker 1: in my own life that I've had, have come from
Speaker 1: these sorts of conversations with my girlfriends where we think
Speaker 1: we're talking about nothing, but oh my goodness, we wind
Speaker 1: up talking about these major life events that really shaped us.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's like unscripted vulnerability, right, yeah, absolutely, Well, we're
Speaker 2: chitchatting today and we have a really special guest.
Speaker 3: I can't wait to yap with her.
Speaker 2: Tika Sumter has been dominating at the box office in
Speaker 2: the mega hit franchise son the Hedgehog, but you've seen
Speaker 2: her so many other places.
Speaker 3: You've seen her on Mixed Dish, You've seen.
Speaker 2: Her on Gossip Girl, One Life to Live, the Haves
Speaker 2: and the have nots. She even start along Snoop Dogg
Speaker 2: in a sports comedy film named The Underdogs.
Speaker 1: I'm still stuck on Sonic the Hedgehog, though my boys
Speaker 1: are absolutely obsessed. When I told them that we're talking
Speaker 1: to sonic's mommy today, they just flipped out.
Speaker 3: So she's a complete hero in my household.
Speaker 1: And now she's actually building her own entertainment empire that's
Speaker 1: focused on children's education. Tica's co created a new podcast
Speaker 1: with her husband called Adventures of Curiosity Cove and it's
Speaker 1: designed to help kids learn about the process of managing
Speaker 1: their emotions. And it was actually inspired by her eight
Speaker 1: year old daughter, Ella, and Ella is a huge fan
Speaker 1: of the podcast. So I just love that this is
Speaker 1: a family affair. And next month, TKA's releasing her debut
Speaker 1: children's book called I Got It from My Mama.
Speaker 3: It's so good.
Speaker 2: I got to read the book and the main character's
Speaker 2: name is based off of her daughter Ella. Her name
Speaker 2: is Ella the Curious, which you know, I love. I
Speaker 2: think it's so special that she creates content with her
Speaker 2: daughter in mind.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh completely, that's the dream come true. We'll
Speaker 1: stick around, y'all. We'll be right back with Tica Sumter.
Speaker 3: Tico. Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you for having me. I'm excited to
Speaker 4: be on the bright side.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1: I am looking forward to the major street cred that
Speaker 1: I'm going to get with my four year old for talking.
Speaker 3: To Maddie from Sonic. He is going to flip out.
Speaker 1: Sonic is like a religion in our house, so this
Speaker 1: is a big moment for me as a mom.
Speaker 4: We'll tell him Sonic's mom. Maddie says, hello, I will
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I gonna love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to get into Sonic of it later.
Speaker 1: But in addition to being a leading lady at the
Speaker 1: box office, you recently began creating content that's geared toward
Speaker 1: early childhood development and entertainment. And we know that there's
Speaker 1: a ton of kids programming out there, right. I'm sure
Speaker 1: that you were aware of that how saturated the market
Speaker 1: was before jumping in, But what did you think was
Speaker 1: missing as a mother, Like what gaps were you trying
Speaker 1: to fill?
Speaker 4: Yeah, to be honest, when we were listening to some
Speaker 4: of the podcasts that are out there now, they're different
Speaker 4: genres of kids entertainment, right, Like some is more for history,
Speaker 4: and I wanted more emotional intelligence and broader stories.
Speaker 5: It's not just one specific kind of stories.
Speaker 4: We have one series in there, but then everything else
Speaker 4: is just dealing with different kinds of emotions that come.
Speaker 5: Up for kids.
Speaker 4: And because this is what we do, we knew that
Speaker 4: we could give a good listening experience to kids, not
Speaker 4: only just through sound, but also we are creators, we
Speaker 4: write stories, we are writers as well, and I knew
Speaker 4: production value was I wanted to give that to kids.
Speaker 4: And I also I knew I was onto something when
Speaker 4: Ella was like, hey, Mom, can we listen to Adventures
Speaker 4: of Curiosity Cove? And I'm like again, And it also
Speaker 4: helped start conversation. That's what I knew something was different.
Speaker 4: It wasn't just like geared toward Hey, this is only
Speaker 4: for my kid, it's going to be annoying to listen
Speaker 4: to this with them, but it was something for everybody
Speaker 4: if they wanted to listen.
Speaker 1: To tell me about the kind of conversations that it
Speaker 1: sparked in your home.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So my husband wrote the story called The Dragon, and
Speaker 4: it's basically about this little boy who is basically going
Speaker 4: through the woods to walk to school. But every time
Speaker 4: he walks to school, he's afraid. He's afraid of the woods,
Speaker 4: you know, it makes these noises. And one day he
Speaker 4: meets his dragon, and the dragon is actually a representation
Speaker 4: of fear and one of the conversations that came out
Speaker 4: of that, which was very random, well, I don't know
Speaker 4: if it was random. My daughter Ella was sitting in
Speaker 4: the back. She goes, Mom, what's your biggest fear?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: And then she asked her dad, and then we asked
Speaker 4: her what her biggest fear was, and she had an answer.
Speaker 4: And so with all of that, I'm like, whoa, Like
Speaker 4: just that fun story. It brought that up, and she
Speaker 4: asked me what my biggest fear was?
Speaker 1: Are you sure this as a children's podcast and not
Speaker 1: for adults, because I feel like I could benefit from it,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure ten people I know could as well
Speaker 1: who are fully grown.
Speaker 5: Oh my yes. And that's the point, right.
Speaker 4: I think that was the difference in the marketplace is
Speaker 4: we know what it's like to sit through something and
Speaker 4: being like I'm going to fall asleep or I'm.
Speaker 5: Just gonna go and look.
Speaker 4: I made it for when moms need a break or
Speaker 4: moms or parents or whoever need a break, and they're like, yes,
Speaker 4: go play with your toys and have this listening situation.
Speaker 5: Use your imagination. But it's also like we're in the car,
Speaker 5: we're out of the.
Speaker 4: Pickup line, kids don't want to talk about their day
Speaker 4: at school because we used to just get yeah, everything
Speaker 4: was fine, you know, so now it's like more of
Speaker 4: a conversation.
Speaker 3: I'd be fighting for my life in that pickup line.
Speaker 3: So thank you.
Speaker 4: I feel like if you give kids the space to
Speaker 4: actually talk, yes, they're almost like the mini Socrates of
Speaker 4: our time. I feel like if you actually pay attention
Speaker 4: and don't try to shush them so much. Our thing
Speaker 4: was like we were rushing through life all time. And
Speaker 4: when you rush through life like that, I know it's
Speaker 4: hard for a lot of parents. But sometimes when you
Speaker 4: give them just space to breathe and be silent or
Speaker 4: just listening. And that's what we wanted to do, is
Speaker 4: spark imagination, spark things that maybe you never get to
Speaker 4: talk about with your kid and you didn't even know
Speaker 4: they were thinking it. And I think if you just
Speaker 4: give them a moment, like mister Rogers he said, sometimes
Speaker 4: when they're talking slow, they're getting their thoughts, like it
Speaker 4: takes them a moment and ed, we're so like, what
Speaker 4: say the answer? Say the answer, you know, and we
Speaker 4: don't give them space to just like assess.
Speaker 5: So I think that was really important.
Speaker 2: Things that's such a beautiful learning to take away for anybody.
Speaker 2: I'm curious what creating this podcast and these books have
Speaker 2: taught you about how you understand your own feelings and
Speaker 2: how you manage them when you were a kid.
Speaker 5: Feelings. I don't even know what that is as a kid.
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't know. It was more of a like, go.
Speaker 4: Do what I told you to do because I said, so,
Speaker 4: that's thee.
Speaker 3: That was the answer.
Speaker 4: And sometimes there are moments where it's like why because
Speaker 4: I said, go, you need to go clean your room
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 5: There is no explanation of why. Like sometimes that's just what.
Speaker 1: It is, right, I'm laughing because I was raised by
Speaker 1: a black mom too, and that's just what it was.
Speaker 3: There was no fighting and what it was you crying.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm gonna give you something to cry about, like
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, like all those things that we.
Speaker 5: Know very well.
Speaker 4: And so I was just like or the look, you know,
Speaker 4: like uh uh. And I always say like I don't
Speaker 4: want to obviously my mom is my best friend, and
Speaker 4: don't demonize her ever, But what I will say is it.
Speaker 5: Was a different time.
Speaker 4: She just didn't have time to do all that conversation stuff,
Speaker 4: and I just said I wanted to raise my child
Speaker 4: a little bit different. Now I do have those moments
Speaker 4: of girl, if you don't, if you don't right now,
Speaker 4: you know, the conversation's a little too long.
Speaker 2: And no, well we have to mention that your mom
Speaker 2: was a corrections officer at Riker's and you're one of
Speaker 2: seven kids, so you had a full house, like there
Speaker 2: was a lot going on with a little Tika.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: No, everything you're saying, Tica is resonating. I was raised
Speaker 1: by a mom who like spanked me and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: and it's like now raising kids in this age, it
Speaker 1: feels like we have choices now as to how we parent. Yep,
Speaker 1: the conversation and the approaches and the philosophies have really
Speaker 1: opened up. And while I think gentle parenting works for
Speaker 1: gentle kids, I think that there's some there are some
Speaker 1: aspects of gentle parenting that I'm trying to incorporate into
Speaker 1: my overall approach.
Speaker 5: Exactly. I feel like it's a mixture.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's all one thing, right, Yeah, I
Speaker 4: don't think it's for me. I know I'm not an
Speaker 4: all gentle parenting person. That's just not me same, but
Speaker 4: I do. What I do like about it is teaching
Speaker 4: your kid boundaries and teaching them respecting what they have
Speaker 4: to say, because they're not just these little robots walking
Speaker 4: around with nothing in their brains, Like you know, they
Speaker 4: have genius in there, and so I feel like if
Speaker 4: you don't create a world in which they can express
Speaker 4: that genius or that emotional intelligence, it gets harder as
Speaker 4: an adult to do it.
Speaker 1: The big thing for me that I've realized that I
Speaker 1: missed from my own relationship with my mother was the repair,
Speaker 1: you know, like after she would kind of overstep as
Speaker 1: a mom or lose her temper as I do often,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm human. There was no apology that came after,
Speaker 1: but I found that like, just taking that time to
Speaker 1: apologize to my kids, have that real conversation has been
Speaker 1: like so beautiful for our relationship.
Speaker 3: Listen, that's a huge part of your book.
Speaker 5: That's a huge part of my book.
Speaker 4: I Got It from My Mama is literally about this
Speaker 4: little girl who's like she's trying to be like her
Speaker 4: mom throughout the whole book. Right then her mom has
Speaker 4: a challenging moment and yells at her hands, like get
Speaker 4: out the kitchen, I'm done, and they have a quiet
Speaker 4: ride to school, and then she goes to school and
Speaker 4: literally is exactly what her mom did at home to
Speaker 4: a friend and she yells at this friend and her
Speaker 4: mom comes and picks her up and she's like, hey,
Speaker 4: how was your day. She's like it was okay, and
Speaker 4: she tells her what happened, and she's like the mom's like,
Speaker 4: where'd you get that from?
Speaker 5: And she's like, I got it from you, mama, and
Speaker 5: just like you said.
Speaker 4: Oof, she gets she bends down and she apologizes to
Speaker 4: her child. So the repair is there, And I think
Speaker 4: that's the difference now, right, Like we're gonna mess up,
Speaker 4: we know that, yeah, but it's the repair.
Speaker 5: It's making it. Heyugh, I made a mistake.
Speaker 4: I was in a moment or whatever that was, or
Speaker 4: here's why. And they repair and it basically ends with like,
Speaker 4: you know, I get a lot I want to be
Speaker 4: like my mama, but I also want to be a
Speaker 4: lot like me. Like me is also great, and so
Speaker 4: so sometimes I think what happens is we obviously hold
Speaker 4: our parents on this pedestal and we think they're just like,
Speaker 4: especially when you're young, it's like they're kind of untouchable,
Speaker 4: and then you see the fallibility of them who they are,
Speaker 4: and you're like whoa, because you start seeing it in
Speaker 4: your own life. The quicker they know that you're not
Speaker 4: this like golden statue, I think the better for me it.
Speaker 3: Is what did you get from your mama at Tika?
Speaker 3: What are you repairing? Ooh, that's good?
Speaker 5: What am I repairing?
Speaker 4: I think for me, like I remember now, like I
Speaker 4: used to chase my mom for validation, like even now,
Speaker 4: like you're like, does my mom like it?
Speaker 5: Like if she said it.
Speaker 4: Was okay and good, then I thought it was good, right,
Speaker 4: Like I remember wanting to She used to works corrections
Speaker 4: and she would come home and I would just clean
Speaker 4: the house. You know, I did something good for you,
Speaker 4: Like I always wanted her to be like wow. And
Speaker 4: so for me getting older, I had to create a
Speaker 4: boundary for myself for knowing that everything I do is
Speaker 4: enough for me and my family now like I created
Speaker 4: my own family and it has nothing to do with
Speaker 4: getting the okay.
Speaker 5: For my mom. That was a hard one.
Speaker 4: It was almost like taking the umbilical court away from me,
Speaker 4: because I really do love.
Speaker 5: My mom's opinion.
Speaker 4: But sometimes I think parents getting in the mix of
Speaker 4: our relationships can be detrimental to the relationship boundaries, boundaries,
Speaker 4: and ourselves, not even just relationships, it's like our own
Speaker 4: relationship with ourselves right, Like chasing after that validation is
Speaker 4: the repair for me of Like, while I value the
Speaker 4: opinion at times, I don't need it all the time anymore.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm, that's so real.
Speaker 2: I used to joke with my girlfriends that my mom's
Speaker 2: opinion mattered so much to me. I have brown hair,
Speaker 2: but if she told me I had purple hair, I'd
Speaker 2: be like, oh, yeah, I have purple hair.
Speaker 3: Like what she said was gospel.
Speaker 2: And it's so hard when you grow up like that
Speaker 2: to take yourself out of that.
Speaker 3: I still struggle sometimes.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, if she comes in my house and
Speaker 4: she doesn't say anything about my hair, I'm like, she
Speaker 4: hates my hair, she doesn't like my she doesn't like
Speaker 4: my hair. Or when she calls me and she's like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, girl, that was amazing what you wore
Speaker 4: and then doesn't say anything else about anything, I'm like, wait.
Speaker 5: So only that one time, you know.
Speaker 4: It's so crazy how wrapped up we are in there,
Speaker 4: like cocoon. It feels like for life, but kind of untangling.
Speaker 4: It is also very nice.
Speaker 2: You've written such a beautiful book. And as I was
Speaker 2: reading the description, there's a few lines that stood out
Speaker 2: to me, and one of them is because parenting is
Speaker 2: never perfect. Why was it important for you to include
Speaker 2: that line?
Speaker 5: It was important because my parenting, I know, isn't like.
Speaker 4: I knew, literally how while I knew how imperfect I was,
Speaker 4: is literally my daughter. I give birth to my daughter
Speaker 4: and I'm like, literally, not even that long after, I'm like,
Speaker 4: so we need therapy, like my husband and I I'm like,
Speaker 4: I know I have baggage, I know I'm a mess.
Speaker 4: I just know that parenting isn't perfect and your kid
Speaker 4: doesn't need you to be perfect. And I wanted to
Speaker 4: validate that for parents and for aunties and all of it,
Speaker 4: for Godmothers, for all of it, Like, kids do not
Speaker 4: need you to be perfect. They need you to show
Speaker 4: up and they need you to listen, and they need
Speaker 4: you to be there.
Speaker 5: But I just wanted to.
Speaker 4: Give parents the past to say today was not a
Speaker 4: good day, and that's okay, and even through that, you're
Speaker 4: teaching your kid that's just not realistic that every single
Speaker 4: day is going to be like this perfect brand of parenting.
Speaker 1: I read this book last year called Real Self Care
Speaker 1: by Pooja Lakshmin, and it was honestly a big game
Speaker 1: changer for me mentally. And there's this one phrase that
Speaker 1: is in the book. She calls this idea the good
Speaker 1: enough mother, and there are some principles that she says
Speaker 1: the good enough mother lives by. She says, I'm okay
Speaker 1: with making mistakes. I'm not defined by being selfish or selfless.
Speaker 1: I can extend the compassion I give to others to myself.
Speaker 1: And so the framing of being a good enough mom
Speaker 1: has been so helpful for me to just own and
Speaker 1: helpful as I try to move away from that impossible
Speaker 1: standard of perfectionist.
Speaker 4: Well, I even think if you're not a mom, right, like,
Speaker 4: if you're just in general a woman.
Speaker 5: And because we're usually rough on ourselves the most, I
Speaker 5: feel like I.
Speaker 4: Feel like guys are able to be like, hmmm, I
Speaker 4: look amazing or I'm great.
Speaker 3: You know, even when they don't, even when they.
Speaker 5: But I'm like, can I have some of that? Because
Speaker 5: I want that?
Speaker 4: And so I always say things like, hey, Tico, would
Speaker 4: you talk to your best friend like that. Would you
Speaker 4: tell your best friend the things you're telling yourself? Absolutely not.
Speaker 4: Would I tell my daughter that? No, absolutely not. So
Speaker 4: it helped me to like reevaluate, reassess how not only
Speaker 4: do I give myself the space to be like, Look,
Speaker 4: I can't do all the things I told my husband Nick,
Speaker 4: I can't do another thing. My brain feels like it's
Speaker 4: gonna break. I feel like I'm gonna break, and I
Speaker 4: can't even cook. I can't do anything right, like to
Speaker 4: confess that and say I can't do anything, and then
Speaker 4: he texts it back. He said, your only job is
Speaker 4: to go and rest. Now go do that.
Speaker 1: That's a good man, Savannah, Savannah, that's a good man.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he said, don't you lift a finger, Go sit
Speaker 4: down and do nothing. I'm able to say that because
Speaker 4: I went.
Speaker 1: To therapy and I created.
Speaker 4: This space that I think every person deserves in general,
Speaker 4: whether it's a friend, whether it's a husband or whatever,
Speaker 4: but the space to just say I just can't because
Speaker 4: you can't, you can't do it all.
Speaker 1: I do want to know more about this, good man.
Speaker 1: So your podcast is a family affair. You and your
Speaker 1: husband Nick co created it together. Asking as someone who
Speaker 1: does not work well with my husband. I am I
Speaker 1: want to know everything about this girl.
Speaker 5: Nobody said we.
Speaker 3: Work well, just working.
Speaker 5: I'm just working.
Speaker 3: We made a podcast. We made it.
Speaker 1: We did it and it was easy, but we made it.
Speaker 1: Where do you feel like you're you're different? Like, where's
Speaker 1: the contrast when you guys are working together. Where the
Speaker 1: tension come from for you? And where's the success?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I think the tension comes from we both have
Speaker 5: a well, it's more me.
Speaker 4: I'm more like control, like say it like this, do
Speaker 4: it like this, and he's like, Tico, let me do
Speaker 4: me you know what I mean. And I'm like, okay, fine,
Speaker 4: like releasing control for me, Like that's the tension, right yes,
Speaker 4: And for him it's like he's very like, give me
Speaker 4: a direction, tell me what you need and I.
Speaker 1: Can fulfill the need. Like he's easy like that. When
Speaker 1: would you say you really hit your stride as parents?
Speaker 5: Ooh, that's a good question.
Speaker 4: I think we hit our stride at like five and six.
Speaker 4: I feel like my sweet spot is now because I
Speaker 4: think five and six we were like, oh this is
Speaker 4: getting easier, and now eight we're like whoo. Every time
Speaker 4: I'm like my my baby maker is like I want
Speaker 4: one more. I'm like, ooh, we're out of the woods.
Speaker 3: Wait now I'm excited to see if you end up
Speaker 3: having one more.
Speaker 5: Oh, girl, I think that shit is sailed.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: Part of it is that you're so busy working all
Speaker 2: the time. You had a huge year at the box office.
Speaker 2: Simone mentioned at the top. You're part of the Sonic franchise.
Speaker 2: It grossed over a billion dollars at the box office
Speaker 2: and it's probably a big hit in your household too.
Speaker 2: Did you take on the role because of your daughter
Speaker 2: at all?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I did. Actually, she really can't watch many.
Speaker 4: Things that I've done or are doing, so this was
Speaker 4: like something for me and for her. When it came around,
Speaker 4: I was so so grateful to be part of such
Speaker 4: an amazing team and part of a legacy of things
Speaker 4: that kids are going to grow up with, Like I'm
Speaker 4: in their lives forever.
Speaker 5: So that made me really happy.
Speaker 3: I heard that she knows more about the characters than
Speaker 3: you do. Does she school you? Girl?
Speaker 4: She embarrassed me the other day we to the Sega
Speaker 4: offices and she's like, they're showing us everything. She's like, Mom,
Speaker 4: you didn't even know about Rouge like you didn't. She's
Speaker 4: like naming characters that She's like, you, mom, you did
Speaker 4: not know about that character? And I was like yeah,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, you're right, I didn't you help me?
Speaker 4: You know, She's basically like calling me out on things
Speaker 4: I didn't know because I was like, oh yeah, uh huh.
Speaker 4: And she's like you didn't know that, mom?
Speaker 3: So rude. How dare you seem to Maddie that way?
Speaker 1: Dude?
Speaker 4: Like so rude?
Speaker 5: But yeah, she is teaching me, so hey, you got
Speaker 5: to give it to her.
Speaker 1: We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be
Speaker 1: right back with Tika Sumter. And we're back with Tika Sumter. Well.
Speaker 1: Jim Carrey has made a lot of headlines being a
Speaker 1: part of the Sonic franchise as well, just a comedy
Speaker 1: legend all around, and I'm so fascinated by him personally.
Speaker 1: What surprised you the most about working with him and
Speaker 1: spending so much time with him.
Speaker 4: What surprissed me is like not on camera as off camera.
Speaker 4: It's like some of us went out to dinner, and
Speaker 4: it's the conversations that you get to have on a
Speaker 4: human level, Like he's just like literally when they're like
Speaker 4: they're just like stars, just like us. He's not only
Speaker 4: valuable in the sense of like, oh, I'm Jim Carrey,
Speaker 4: but in conversation you feel like he's listening to you.
Speaker 4: Even when he gives advice, it's not like I'm giving
Speaker 4: you advice.
Speaker 5: He puts himself in there.
Speaker 4: I remember we were just talking about family and like
Speaker 4: different things, and he was so vulnerable and I was like, wow,
Speaker 4: you admitted that to me, Like he wants to connect,
Speaker 4: and I think that translates in what he does, right,
Speaker 4: it does.
Speaker 1: Like I can tell that I've never met him, but
Speaker 1: I can just tell that he would be a person
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 5: He is a person like that. He really is.
Speaker 1: Oh did any of the conversations that you had with
Speaker 1: him change your own philosophy as to how you approach
Speaker 1: the projects that you select?
Speaker 4: Hmmm, Like for me, he does things that he loves,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 5: And I think at the beginning.
Speaker 4: Of our careers, like while we would love that idea
Speaker 4: of like do everything you love, like I love when
Speaker 4: people are like when.
Speaker 5: I chose this project, you know, like.
Speaker 4: I mean, God bless everybody who says stuff like that.
Speaker 3: I wand of love this about you.
Speaker 1: That is the realist thing anyone's ever said on our shows.
Speaker 1: That was hilarious.
Speaker 5: I mean, God.
Speaker 4: Bless everybody who can choose things like that, But it's
Speaker 4: a very small percentage of people who can actually do that.
Speaker 4: And especially because I remember coming up as an actress,
Speaker 4: You're like.
Speaker 5: Dude, I need to pay my bills. I want to
Speaker 5: do this full time, like anything that I can keep trying.
Speaker 4: You know, like, if you're not able to get on set,
Speaker 4: how are you going to learn.
Speaker 5: You can't just be in a class all day.
Speaker 4: You got to be in the arena to learn how
Speaker 4: to fight and.
Speaker 5: To do it.
Speaker 4: So it always baffles me when you know people are like,
Speaker 4: as you get further in your career, yes there are options,
Speaker 4: but it's even a different level of like okay, you're
Speaker 4: an option, and now you're an option with just like
Speaker 4: maybe two other.
Speaker 5: People that we are having, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Also, when you're in a creative field, it is a
Speaker 2: gift to get paid to get your reps in and
Speaker 2: like that's so underrated.
Speaker 5: Say that again, Say that again.
Speaker 2: When you're in a creative field, it's such a gift
Speaker 2: to get paid to get your repsin.
Speaker 5: There we go like people don't understand.
Speaker 4: First of all, the percentage of people going out for
Speaker 4: the one role. Then even when you get a call back,
Speaker 4: that's a another small percentage, and then getting the thing
Speaker 4: and not getting fired is another percentage, and being replaced.
Speaker 4: There are so many levels to this creative thing that
Speaker 4: we do that it's just like I think people think
Speaker 4: it's like, oh, you should have did this, you should
Speaker 4: have did that role, you should have did that part.
Speaker 5: And I'm like, girl, be stormed, you know in.
Speaker 4: Marvel, like you should go and be And I'm like, really,
Speaker 4: can you call them?
Speaker 3: That's so funny and so real? Yeah, so real? Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2: One thing that you did choose though, that I think
Speaker 2: is very cool is that you're about to work on
Speaker 2: another movie with the mogul Tyler Perry, and it's a
Speaker 2: project that you co wrote. So you and Tyler obviously
Speaker 2: have a long standing relationship, but it's the very first
Speaker 2: time that he's directing a movie he hasn't written.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Antika, if anybody.
Speaker 2: Saw his documentary, they know that he is so notorious
Speaker 2: for being all of the things on all of the projects.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how did you convince him to do this?
Speaker 4: Well? Okay, so I co wrote a script with my
Speaker 4: friend Katori. She's actually a writer on Pea Valley.
Speaker 3: I'm so obsessed with her.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So, my friend Kimiando Katuno is an EP. She's a
Speaker 4: producer on the show, and she's a one of the
Speaker 4: lead writers of Pea Valley, who my friend Katori.
Speaker 5: Is the creator of. And so we wrote this project.
Speaker 4: Together, and I brought it to other people before and
Speaker 4: they were like, oh, we love it, but they couldn't
Speaker 4: get it done. And I was like, you know what,
Speaker 4: people call their friends all day long in this industry.
Speaker 5: They put their.
Speaker 4: Friends in every movie. I'll call my friend. I've known
Speaker 4: him for a very long time. I've worked with him
Speaker 4: multiple times, and he is like a big brother.
Speaker 5: And I call him and he's like, send me script.
Speaker 4: He calls me, matter days, love it, love it all right.
Speaker 4: Let me call Netflix or Amazon and Seat or whoever.
Speaker 4: Let me see if they want to do this.
Speaker 5: Okay. He calls me. He's like, so, yeah, Amazon wants
Speaker 5: to do the movie. And I go what. I just
Speaker 5: fall on the.
Speaker 4: Floor and I start crying and I'm like, are you kidding.
Speaker 4: He's like, no, I'm not kidding, And we're gonna start
Speaker 4: pre production in like.
Speaker 5: A few months. Do you know how long.
Speaker 4: It takes to do anything in this town? Do you
Speaker 4: know how many meetings before the meetings before the meeting
Speaker 4: before the meeting, at.
Speaker 1: Least like two years, at least like at a minimum, at.
Speaker 5: A minimum two years.
Speaker 4: That thing was in production so fast. So that man,
Speaker 4: let me tell you you want something done, he gets
Speaker 4: it done. And then the fact that he wanted to
Speaker 4: direct it. He's never he writes his stuff like that's
Speaker 4: what he does. He does all the things. He's like,
Speaker 4: this is you you're really going to be producing this thing?
Speaker 4: And he did that, and we have most of the
Speaker 4: movie in the cans.
Speaker 5: So I'm super excited.
Speaker 2: That's such a feather in your cap because that means
Speaker 2: he really trusts you.
Speaker 1: Tika, you said that you fell on the floor crying
Speaker 1: when you got the news that you know, Tyler was
Speaker 1: able to facilitate a production deal through with Amazon.
Speaker 3: What was it about that? Yes, that meant so much
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 5: Hmm, that's a good question.
Speaker 4: In this business, there's little validations that you get along
Speaker 4: the way, like yeah, you're onto something to me, the
Speaker 4: concept of film execution, of actually getting it on paper,
Speaker 4: and like my vision was validated, Like, wait a, Sey,
Speaker 4: You're not crazy. You're not crazy, because the amount of
Speaker 4: knows you get right in our industry will make.
Speaker 5: You feel nuts. It'll make you feel like.
Speaker 4: You're not valuable, you're always the maybe next time, and
Speaker 4: you're like, no, the time for me is now, you know.
Speaker 4: And so that validation that yes, that my first co
Speaker 4: writing credit I've produced before, but like really producing this
Speaker 4: and the thing that.
Speaker 5: Started as an idea is actually going to be on
Speaker 5: the screen.
Speaker 4: And the fact that Amazon was like yes, and the
Speaker 4: fact that Tyler was like yes, that was like, hey girl,
Speaker 4: you're not crazy. So it was just validating all my
Speaker 4: dreams that I've come thus far, and I'm like, trust yourself.
Speaker 4: It just made me trust myself even more.
Speaker 3: I love that. Wait, we both just did the same
Speaker 3: thing in it. Yeah, so much because you really touched
Speaker 3: our hearts. Yeah, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: That was so vulnerable to share because I think everybody
Speaker 2: in their own way is looking for that, Like we
Speaker 2: all have this inner voice that we're just looking for confirmation.
Speaker 4: On confirmation and confirmation, I feel like sometimes it creates confidence,
Speaker 4: like it just that's how you get more and more
Speaker 4: confident you know, you're.
Speaker 6: Like, that's a bar, thank thank you, But yeah, no
Speaker 6: confirmation does I feel like create more confidence because even
Speaker 6: if it's small bits of confirmation, it's just it builds.
Speaker 5: It builds and builds and builds.
Speaker 4: And you're like, Okay, everybody just wants to know that
Speaker 4: they're not insane.
Speaker 5: Some of my ideas work, some of them don't.
Speaker 4: But I know that in this field, like I'm not insane,
Speaker 4: Like my ideas are good.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm. It's a sense of belonging to like I
Speaker 3: belong here, I belong here.
Speaker 5: I agree.
Speaker 2: Okay, Tika, this has been such a meaningful interview, and
Speaker 2: so I have a really dumb question for you.
Speaker 5: I love this. I love I love dumb questions. I
Speaker 5: have them all the time.
Speaker 3: Thank you for that. Happy too.
Speaker 2: Okay, you have over two million Instagram followers that are
Speaker 2: so obsessed with your life, and I want to know
Speaker 2: something that you are obsessed with right now, whether it's
Speaker 2: like a book, a hobby, a wellness trend, something that
Speaker 2: like you haven't been posting online that you're so into
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: I told myself I need to get more hobbies in
Speaker 4: my life because my husband and my daughter they have a.
Speaker 5: Like a list of hobbies. They're like, oh, we're going
Speaker 5: to go.
Speaker 4: Paddleboard in the ocean and surf and more time, like
Speaker 4: all the and I'm like they're like, what do you
Speaker 4: love to do? Mom?
Speaker 5: And I'm like work.
Speaker 3: I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 4: I'm like create. They're like, no, nothing to do with work.
Speaker 4: And so I was like, I'm going to figure something out.
Speaker 4: I just started needle point. Wait, I am like obsessed.
Speaker 4: So on Sunday, I finally opened this needle point kit
Speaker 4: that I've had for like over a year. I gave
Speaker 4: myself the the space to be like, I'm just gonna
Speaker 4: like chill here and.
Speaker 5: Do needle point. I was like, I'm gonna just try.
Speaker 4: I went on YouTube. I'm like, wait, how do I
Speaker 4: do this? This this one stitch or whatever? Learned it
Speaker 4: on YouTube and then I could not stop. I was
Speaker 4: sitting there for hours just doing this heart needle point
Speaker 4: thing that I literally took a picture of.
Speaker 3: You have a hobby.
Speaker 1: Congratulations and your mom approves of it.
Speaker 3: You got validation from your mom.
Speaker 4: Oh my gods.
Speaker 3: See that is amazing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm theme here see no, I know, it's so amazing.
Speaker 4: I was proud of myself and when I showed my
Speaker 4: husband and my daughter, they're like.
Speaker 5: Wow, mom, you're still doing that.
Speaker 4: I'm like, yeah, well, my daughter said, mom, my husband
Speaker 4: doesn't call me mom.
Speaker 5: That would be that would be all.
Speaker 3: Well question, it'd be a choice.
Speaker 2: Tika, thank you so much for joining us on the
Speaker 2: bright side. This is like such a corny thing to say.
Speaker 2: What you really put the bright in it. You're such
Speaker 2: a bright light.
Speaker 3: Thank you for this conversation. Tica.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Simone, Thank you, Danielle again, I
Speaker 4: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Tica, so awesome.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Tica Sumpter is an actor, producer, and author. Sonic the
Speaker 2: Hedgehog three is available on Digital Now, and season two
Speaker 2: of her podcast, Adventures of Curiosity Cove is available wherever
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts. Her new children's book I Got
Speaker 2: It from My Mama is out in April.
Speaker 3: That's it for today's show.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow, we're joined by award winning entrepreneur, executive producer, writer
Speaker 1: and founder, doctor Nikola Mitchell. She's here to talk all
Speaker 1: about her incredible nonprofit Girls Who Brunch Tour, plus what
Speaker 1: it means to be a Laurel Paris.
Speaker 3: Women of Worth Honore.
Speaker 1: Join the conversation using hashtag the bright Side. Connect with
Speaker 1: us on social media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram and
Speaker 1: at the bright Side Pod on TikTok oh, and feel
Speaker 1: free to tag us at Simone Voice and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 2: Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side.